::Grenada Sports::

Grenada hoping to erase bad memories

Grenada have limited ambitions in terms of their regional impact. However, they are competitive with many nations in their area, and the Grenadians are hopeful of forgetting and overcoming what was a disheartening elimination in the qualifying for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™.

Matched up with Barbados in the opening round, the side got a late brace from striker Anthony Modeste to earn a valuable 2-2 draw in Bridgetown.

In the return leg, 3000 faithful filled the Tanteen Recreation Ground to see Grenada hopefully pull one over on their larger neighbours.

But after playing to another tense 2-2 draw, Barbadian Llewellyn Riley sent the home supporters away disappointed with a golden goal that eliminated them from further action.

Though the test was more difficult, some felt like it was a step backwards for the side because in the run-up to France '98 Grenada advanced to the second round after dismissing Guyana 8-1 on aggregate.

Haiti rather brutally ended the dream that time around, 7-1 over two legs, but expectations were correspondingly higher. Perhaps the team, which also tried to qualify back in 1980, gained some valuable experience on which to build.

Founded	1924
Affiliated	1976
WC participations	None
WC honours	None
Continental Titles	None
Fact Field 1	With a surface area of just 344 square kilometres, Grenada is one of the smallest independent countries in the western hemisphere. The national football team are embarking on their fifth qualifying campaign since 1982.
Fact Field 2	Their first attempt ended early after two defeats by Guyana. In 1986, they withdrew from the competition, and in 1996 they lost to Haiti after beating Guyana in both legs. Barbados proved the stumbling block in the 2002 preliminaries.
Fact Field 3	Grenada's best result to date is a 14-1 win against Anguilla in April 1998. Their worst defeat came at the hands of close neighbours Trinidad and Tobago in 1999, who beat them 7-0.

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NEW YORK (CMC) -- Twenty-four CONCACAF teams will know their route to the FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany 2006 this week when the Qualifying draw takes place on Friday in Frankfurt, Germany.

The CONCACAF (Caribbean, North and Central America) qualifying campaign will kick off on February 18 next year with the last games scheduled for November 12 and 16, 2005, almost two years of intense competition to see who will represent the Confederation in Germany 2006.

CONCACAF has been allotted three spots to the 2006 World Cup and a fourth team will be given a play-off chance to make the finals.

Only three Caribbean teams have qualified for the World Cup Finals in the 72-year history of the tournament -- Cuba in 1938, Haiti (1974), and Jamaica (1998).

The CONCACAF World Cup qualifying draw will have the 34 nations placed intothe following six groups:

Group A: Costa Rica, Mexico, USA (Teams that qualified for the 2002 FIFAWorld Cup)

Group B: Honduras, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago (Teams that reached the final round of CONCACAF qualification for 2002 FIFA World Cup)

Group C: Barbados, Canada, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, St Vincent & The Grenadines (Teams that reached the semifinal round of CONCACAF qualification for 2002 FIFA World Cup)

Group E: Antigua & Barbuda, Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis, Suriname (Two remaining teams from North Zone and top eight from Caribbean from the FIFA World Cup Rankings through 22 October 2003)

Group F: Anguilla, Aruba, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Turks & Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands (Remaining teams from the Caribbean Zone and from the bottom of FIFA World Cup Ranking through 22 October 2003) All 20 teams will be drawn from the Groups E and F and divided into 10 groups of two to play home and away series to produce 10 qualifiers.

These teams will then be joined by the 14 teams that received first round byes from the remaining groups (A, B, C, D). These 24 teams will be divided into 12 groups of two to play home and away with the second round series winners advancing to the semifinal stage.

At the semifinal stage, the 12 qualifiers will be divided into three groups of four, with the top two from each group moving on to the final qualifying stage.

The final group of six qualifiers will play, home and away, from February 9 to October 12, 2005 at which point the top three will advance directly to the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

The fourth-place finisher will compete in a home and away playoff for one of the last berths into the event. These games will take place on November 12 and 16, 2005.

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada (Oct. 22) - The Technical staff of the Grenada's senior national football team has requested the services of at least five foreign-based players for international duties.

In a technical report to the Grenada Football Association, Team Manager Cheney Joseph said that the coaching staff is requesting striker Jason Roberts of English Premier Division Portsmouth, midfielder Shalrie Joseph of the New England Revolution in the United States, defender Anthony Modeste of champions Portsmore of Jamaica, and current college players Ricky Charles of University of South Carolina-Spartanburgh and Anthony Augustine of Southern New Hampshire University.

The staff is also requesting at least three warm-up matches in preparation for the preliminary round of the 2006 World Cup Qualifiers.

Meanwhile, the training squad has been reduced to 25 players with intensive training under coach Norris "Bowser" Wilson.

Grenada (GRN)